Art of protectively treating materials



' UNITED srmss PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR AREN'T, OF DES MOINES, IOW'Aa ART OF PROTECTIVELY TREATING MATERIALS.

l lfl'o Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be .it known that'I, ARTHUR ARENT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Des Moines, in the county of Folk and State of Iowa, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Art of Protectively Treating Materials; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates tothe art of protectively treating material, more particularly, but not exclusively, fibrous materials such as wood, wood pulp, paper, canvas, duck, textile fabrics generally, and especially cloth used for aeroplane wings, hangar tents, balloons, etc.

The present application comprises matter divided out of my prior copendin applications Serial No. 254,958, filed eptember 20, 1918, Serial No. 275,242, filed February 5, 1919, and Serial No. 306,928, filed June 26, 1919, the present application relating more particularly to oily compositions containing fire-retardants, the preparation of said compositions, andarticles of manufacture obtainedby the-use of said compositions.

Generally described, the. invention involves the use-of a fire-retardant metal compound to render oils and oily materials substantially non-inflammable, or to'lower their inflammability to any desired extent. As herein employed, the term non-inflammable is applied to material which merely chars upon exposure to direct contact with flame, but does not inflame or .continue to burn after the removal of the applied flame.

For the sake of afi'ordin'g a clear understanding of the invention, certain specific embodiments thereof will be hereinafter described irftdetail; but such examples are to be understood as merely illustrative of the broad principles involved and not as limiting the scope of the invention.

I have found that b dissolving antimon trichlorid in oil or oi y'matter, either wit or without an additional solvent, the resultant mixture can be used either alone or in conjunction withv other materials for coating or impregnating articles-which it is desired to protect and whose combustibility it is desired to reduce. Where an additional solvent is employed, amyl acetate is especially suitable, although the invention is not restricted thereto. Solvents such as Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 23, 1921- Applieation filed January 29, 1921. Serial No. 441,082.

benzol, acetone, carbon tetrachlorid, chloroform, etc. offer special advantages in some like uniformly and in sufiicie'nt quantity to reduce their infiammability and to insure effective fireproofing' of' material treated with such modified oils. The concentration of the amyl acetate solution so employed may vary 'considerably, but in practice I have found it convenient to employ a saturated solution which can be diluted, if necessary, according to the particular material to be treated. Such saturated solution can readily be prepared by shaking an excess of pure antimonytrichlorid crystals with amyl acetate and allowing the mixture to stand for a few hours at ordinary temperatures. An advantageous method of procedure is to mix the amyl acetate solution of antimony trichlorid with a drying oil such as linseed oil, and to apply this mlxture to the canvas or other fibrous material to be treated. This results in a thoroughly waterproofed canvas or other fabric which, at the same time, is also non-inflammable. I have found a mixture consisting of equal parts by volume of linseed oil and a saturated solu- 'tion of antimony trichlorid in amyl acetate to. be particularly effective in practice. After evaporation of the amyl acetate from the treated fabric and exposure to the atmosphere until thesurface is no longer tacky, the fabric is' perfectly waterproofed and at the same time cannot be made to take fire even upon direct application. of a flame, the fabric merely charring at the region where the flame is applied.

In another particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention, antimony tri chlorid is dissolved in. amyl acetate in the proportion of 14: ounces (avoirdupois) of the antimony salt, to 16 fluid ounces of amyl acetate, and about one volume of the resultant solution being added to 4 or 5 volumes of linseed ,oil and'thoroughly mixed therewith. Linseed oil thus treated, and especially after drying, is rendered non-inflammable, and canvas, paper, and the like, coated or impregnated with such treated linseed oil is also rendered non-inflammable. Such linseedoil may also obviously be employed in the usual manner in paint mixtures which are thereby rendered similarly According to still another way of carrying out this phase of the invention, the antimony salt may bedissolved directly in or mixed with the linseed oil or other drying-oil employed, without using a special solvent such as amyl acetate. The resultant mixture can be applied in the same manner to the materials to be protected and the resultant fabric is found to bewaterproofed and at the same time is non-inflammable.

An amyl acetate solution of antimony tri chlorid can be advantageously mixed with oil-containing varnishes of various kinds to give mixtures which can be used like ordmary varnishes to produce .protective coatings which are, however, non-inflammable as opposed to the high infiammability characterizing .ordinary varnishes. The term varnishes is employed herein in a broad sense to include not only solutions of natural or artificial lutions of cel ulose and cellulose derivatives such as cellulose nitrates, cellulose acetates, viscose, etc.

It is evident also that, in addition to var nishes, other oily liquid coating and impreg'nating compositions such as paints, stains and the like, comprising coloring matter in the form of pigments or dye stuffs,

carried by a suitable salt such as antimonytrichlorid, either by direct solution thereof in the vehicle or by addition of a solution of such salt in amyl acetate or other appropriate solvent.

The treated products prepared as above described may be applied, when in liquid condition, by brushing, dipping, spraying, etc.; and materials and articles to which such products have been applied and which are renderedfire-resistant or non-inflammable as already explained, are included within the present invention.

subjecting articles coated or impregnated with the products above described, to the action of air, and .particularly to the action of water, steam or moist air, has the effect of apparently oxidizing the antimony to some extent at least in the exposed outer surfaces 'or la ers with formation of highly fireretardant basic compounds, which are. probably basic chlorids or oxychlorids or analo-' gous compounds of antimony, insoluble in water and tenaciously adherent; so that the fabric or other article protected with a composition of the character above described does not lose its fire-resistant character after long exposure to weather, even in cases.

ms and resins, but also sowhere the waterproofing agent may have deteriorated to a greater or less extent. It is for this reason, among others, that metal compounds which act in this respect similarly to anhydrous antimony trichlorid are especially advantageous in practising the present invention. The special desirability of antimony trichlorid is due tothe fact that it is readily soluble in many oils either directly or with the aid of any one of a number of organic solvents to give a fluid mixture with which materials can be impregnated or otherwise treated; and also to the fact thatit does not dissolve in water and hence cannot be washed out of materialtreated therewith,but on the contrary decomposes instantly upon contact with water, forming insoluble products as above mentioned. Other salts of antimony such as the sulfate are ordinarily less desirable because of the possibility of stronger corrosive action consequent upon development of free .sulfuric acid; although this corrosive action may be guarded against in the case of either the chlorid or the sulfate by incorporating an antacid substance such as sodium carbonate, lime, or the like, with the composition or by washing the finally coated or impregnated articles with a mildly alkaline solution of any appropriate character. 95 Neither is the invention restricted in. its broader aspects to the use of antimony salts,- although antimony salts, and antimony chlorid especially, give in practice results which are markedly superior to even such 100.

antimony compound.

2. The process of waterproofing and decreasing the combustibility of fibrous material which comprises applying thereto a mixture of a drying oil, a fire-retardant antimony compound, and a volatile solvent.

3. The process of preparing a liquid treating composition which comprises dissolving antimony trichlorid in amyl acetate, and mixing the solution with a drying oil.

4. As a new composition of matter, a liquid'material comprising linseed oil having a fire-retardant antimony compound dissolved therein.

5. As a new composition of matter, a mix- -ture of linseed oil and amyl acetate containing a dissolved fire-retardant antimony I compound.

6. As a new composition of matter, a mixture of linseed oil and amyl acetate containing antimony trichlorid dissolved therein.

7. As a new composition of matter, a liquid mixture comprising a drying oil, amyl acetate, and a fire-retardant metall compound.

8. As a new composition of matter, a hydrolyzable salt of a metal dissolved in a drying oil in a proportion suflicient for a fireproofing effect.

9. A new composition of matter comprising a drying oil associated with a fire-retardant antimony compound in a proportion sufficient for a fireproofing effect.

10. The process of treating linseed oil to renderthe same less inflammable, which comprises added thereto from one-fifth to one-fourth its volume of an amyl acetate solutionof antimony trichlorid, containing about 14 ounces by weight of antimony trichlorid to 16 fluid ounces of amyl acetate.

11. The process of treating drying oils for use as protective material, which comprises adding to said oil from one-fifth to one-fourth its volume of an amyl acetate solution of antimony trichlorid, containing about 14 ounces by weight of antimony trichlorid to 16 fluid ounces of amyl acetate.

12. As new articles of manufacture, products substantially watcrproofed and fireproofed by a composition comprising a drying oil and a fire retardant antimony comsignature.

. ARTHUR ARENT. 

